Another German company with close links to the Nazi government, Siemens horrifyingly forced slave labourers - many of who were Jews - to build gas chambers that many of them would later be murdered in. Now the largest engineering company in Europe, Siemens produce energy-related products and medical equipment, but during World War II they specialised in providing the materials necessary to construct deadly gas chambers. They also constructed Germany's communications, rail and power-generation infrastructures - making them arguably the most-important company to the Nazis. Additionally, in a huge public-relations blunder in 2001, the company attempted to promote a product range named "Zyklon" ("cyclone") - with one of the goods even being a type of gas oven. Seeing as Zyklon B gas was infamously used by the Nazis to kill people during the Holocaust, Siemens really did find possibly the only way they could to damage their own image any further.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
